Geoffrey Cobb is the author of the book Rise and Fall of the
Sugar King which shows what it really cost to create the sugar
industry. He’s got touching stories of how Henry Havemeyer would
stop at nothing just to see his company thrive. We discuss how this
has personally affected him and we’re sure from this, you won't be
able to view sugar the same way.

[01:48-2:25] Intro: Today we are joined by
Geoffrey Cobb who is the author of the book 'The rise and fall of
the sugar king'.

[2:25-3:05] Can you tell us more about Dominos
sugar? It was started by two brothers, Henry who did the marketing
and Theodore who handled the technical side. It was doing well, but
then after the civil war ,more people discovered that they too
could refine sugar which created a lot of competition and in turn
forced them to cut down on their prices which put a strain in the
business.

[3:05-6:31] Could you please tell us more about
the conditions of the refinery? They picked Polish-speaking
immigrants that didn’t know English and this was because they knew
that they were desperate and would do anything. They would work for
12 hours a day in temperatures that ranged from 110 to 130 degrees
and at almost 100% humidity. Most workers would wear loin cloth
because of the heat. There were a number of accidents in the
refinery that left some workers sick and/or disable and without
compensation. There were deaths, too, especially on hot summer days
yet the refinery didn’t stop working even after the workers
demanded for better working conditions.

[6:31-8:29] Tell us more about the turmoil in
the States and around the world because of this? In 1882, there was
a fire that completely engulfed the refinery to the ground. It cost
them 1.5 million, which in today’s economy is about 1.5 billion to
reconstruct. The workers then protested about the poor working
conditions which was resolved, but went onto becoming a recurring
problem.

[8:29-10:53] The sugar industry really shaped
the economy and the skyline when it comes to the sugar industry.
What would the city have been without it? In the 1830's there was a
vision of Williamsburg being a posh residential area. It
didn’t happen due to a real estate bubble burst which left large
tracks of land which later became sugar refineries. Henry Havemeyer
later remarried Louisine Havemeyer who brought great awareness to
impressionist art, which some she later donated to metropolitan
museum.

[10:53-12:03] Did the art come from the mansion
facing central park? Yes. The mansion was decorated by Louis
comfort Tiffany.

[12:03-14:35] Could you tell us more about the
sugar trust? In the 1880's the competition became cut throat and
the only way to survive was to limit the amount of sugar produced
and to increase the price. Henry Havemeyer then convinced other
sugar producers to set up a sugar trust that would control the
price and supply. This, in turn, made them very wealthy, affecting
the economy of the United States. In 1858 with the start of the
civil war in Louisiana where most of the sugar come from, the
supply was cut off and sugar had to be imported from different
places such as Cuba, Egypt, Puerto Rico, and Brazil but mainly from
Cuba. This sparked the Spanish-American war.

[14:35-14:55] What made Henry Havemeryer push
the American government to fight with Spain? He wanted to buy up
the sugar plantation where the raw sugar way raised.

[14:55-15:24] It was all about the money,
right? Right. And as soon as Cuba was freed from Spain and Puerto
Rico became an American territory, they reconfigured the economy to
best suit them.

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[16:13-18:09] Does Met Museum have a
responsibility to talk about the money and the history of the art
hanging on their walls? Unfortunately, there is no stipulation for
this even though there is a lot of criminality surrounding the
Havermeyer's wealth acquisition.

[18:09-19:39] What did the president of the
United States say about this? He asked that justice be served for
the fraudulent behavior that cost the country a lot.

[20:06-21:34] What kind of emotion does seeing
sugar evoke from you knowing what you know now? I am now aware of
how many lives were lost and ruined for the production of that
sugar. I cut my story off at 1909 but this went on till 2005. I
have a visual attachment to sugar.

[21:34-22:33] Why did the union solider need so
much sugar a month? It’s not clear but a logical argument would be
that they were cooking up boozes.

[22:33-27:41] What was the influence of the
Sherman act? After the sugar trust was formed, the New York State
sued them for being illegal which they won. They then incorporated
in New Jersey and they were able to run the sugar trust fund
through Henry Havermeyer. Through bribing top government officials,
Henry Havermeyer was able to maintain and run his business empire
without problems despite breaking the law. Henry was also known to
destroy anyone that attempted to come into competition with him as
in the cause of Claus Spreckels, a sugar king from California, and
The Arbuckle which cost a lot of money.

[27:41-30:09] Let’s talk about his family
that’s living today.
After his death, there was an investigation and they found out that
Henry had illegally received a huge amount of stock in the American
Sugar refining company which violates the security exchange
commission laws. The family divested and the sugar monopoly was
broken up by the government, but they still held huge amount of
stock worth millions.
His daughter, Electro, set up foremost museum of Americana, and the
son became a family historian. They’re still wealthy people to
date.

[30:09-31:10] What’s happening to the modern
Domino sugar building? The building is landmark and it rapidly
transformed into something different. It was set up as an
industrial building but now it's going to be luxury offices and
condos. I would love people to remember that there's a unique and
tragic history attached to this building which is one of the
reasons I wrote the book.

Special thank you to
Michael Kawochka from Warren Lewis Sotheby's International
Realty for making this introduction and helping with the
interview!

About the Podcast

From the Ratner Team, this is the Brooklyn Made Podcast, a show about Real Estate, Entrepreneurs, Businesses and the professionals behind one of the hottest real estate markets in the world.
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